Conclusion about the great wall of China

The amazing great wall has been build by different empires to defend their enemies and to prevent invasion or intrusion from other states in China .Many people have given their lives building the great wall ,and many more defending the wall. With a history of over 2,000 years ,the great wall witnessed the changes of time ,the lives of people ,the happening of events ,and the stories of many individuals.So much laughter ,so much tears, the great wall all endured in silence.Now the great wall is one of the wonders of the world .Behind the breathtaking great wall holds many unforgettable memories and histories.It is advise that one much see and climb the great wall as it is said that if one has not climbed the Great Wall ,one has not been to China.

What was the organisation of the buliding process like?

Instead of one line, their walls stretched in the four directions and varied in length from several hundred miles to one or two thousand miles.In the Qin Dynasty ,the emperor Qin Shihuang ordered his laborers to connect these scattered walls and create some new sections, thus forming a Great Wall in northern and central China.

The  Great Wall is not merely a wall but instead a complete and rigorous defense project composed of many passes,watchtowers, garrison towns, beacon towers and blockhouses. These fortifications were arranged in certain ways under the control of the military command system all the time.



 There were about 1,000,000 soldiers guarding the Ming's Great Wall. The chief military officers were stationed in garrison-towns, while lesser officers and soldiers were stationed in Guan Cheng  and other smaller fortifications. The eleven Great Wall garrisons were set up along the Great Wall to guard the

place.

When did the construction began and end?

Start 
Chunqiu Period (770B.C-416B.C)--------- In a divided China ,many ducal states started to build along their boundaries to prevent invasion of other states of China and outer tribes



Zhanguo Period (476B.C-221B.C)


Qin Dynasty (221B.C-206B.C)------- After unification ,Qin linked and extended the walls of the three northern states and formed the first Ten Thousand Li Great Wall (2li=1km).The walls were build to guard against the intrusion of Yiqu.


West Han Dynasty (206B.C-25A.D) --------To prevent invasion from the northern borders, the Han’s further extended the great wall to over 10,000km


East Han Dynasty (25A.D-220A.D)


Three Kingdoms Period (220A.D -280A.D)


West Jin Dynasty (265 A.D-316 A.D)


East Jin Dynasty (317A.D-420A.D)


South and North Dynasty (420 A.D-618A.D) -------The states in the north continued to build the great wall to prevent intrusion.


Sui Dynasty (581A.D -618A.D) ---------The Sui Dynasty lasted for only two generations spanning 38 years. However ,during this period several sections of the great wall were built.


Tang Dynasty (618A.D-907A.D)


Five Dynasties (901A.D-906A.D)


North Song Dynasty (960A.D-1127A.D)


South Song Dynasty (1127A.d-1276A.D)


Yuan Dynasty (1271A.D-1368A.D)


End
Ming Dynasty (1368A.D -1644A.D)------ During the Dynasty ,reconstruction of the Great Wall was put in hand and became a project on a gigantic scale .Ming rebuilt the length totaled over 6,000km


Qing Dynasty (1644A.D-1911A.D)

What was the technology involved?

Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from earth, stones and wood. Due to the large quantity of materials required to construct the Great Wall, the builders always tried to use local sources. When building over the mountain ranges, the stones of the mountain were exploited and used. While in the plains, earth was rammed into solid blocks to be used in construction. In the desert, even the sanded reeds and juniper tamarisks were used to build it.

Before and during the Qin Dynasty, because the earth buildings could withstand the strength of weapons like swords and spears and there was low technology of productivity, the Great Wall was mostly built by stamping earth between board frames. As such, only walls of plain earth or earth with gravel inside were built. 

Stories of the Great Wall of China : The Widows' Tower

At the Tai Ping Zhai section of the Great Wall near Huang Ya Guan, there is a well-known tower called the Widows' Tower. It is said that when building Huang Ya Guan, 12 soldiers from Henan Province lost their lives. Their wives, upon learning the news, were all heart-broken. Later, they used the compensation they got to build the tower in memory of their husbands. 

Stories of the Great Wall of China : The "Metal Soup" Great Wall

On the outskirts of Beijing, there is a famous section of the Great Wall called Huang Hua Cheng (the yellow flower fortress). It was named after the yellow flowers that bloom in the summer time but there is a famous story about the building of this section in the Ming Dynasty. A general called Cai Kai was put in charge of the construction. Several years passed before it was completed. The central government was not happy and General Cai was accused of the long construction period and high investment so, He was excuted. Later, the emperor realised that something was wrong. He carried out an investigation and found that the Great Wall built by General Cai was very steep and solid. Not one crack could be knocked out of the bricks and stones that had been reinforced with rice soup. Knowing that the project was of extremely high quality, the emperor established a tablet for General Cai and wrote on a big rock under the Great Wall the "Metal Soup ".                                                                          

During the Second World War, the Japanese invaders tried very hard and eventually succeeded in blowing up a section of the Huang Hua Cheng Great Wall. The section fell into the lake nearby and you can still see today the Great Wall extending on both sides of the lake

Stories of the Great Wall of China : The Happy Meeting Mouth

The buiding of Pan Jia Kou Reservoir in Hebei Province resulted in a section of underwater Great Wall. This section is called Xi Feng Kou, the Happy Meeting Mouth. In the old days, a soldier had not returned home for a long time. His father looked for him everywhere and what a coincidence, they ran into each other at the Songting Hill. They were so happy and laughed so much that they both died. Later they were burried at the pass whose name was then changed to the Happy Meeting Pass.